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Blake had invited Paradise on a walk through the refuge once the boys were asleep. He loved the park at night with the predators’

eyes gleaming as they passed and the other park animals sleeping. February was two days away, and the chill felt good after

the warmth of the kitchen. Paradise shivered, so he draped his arm around her.

She moved a little closer. “I should have brought a jacket.”

Her hair was still a bit damp from her shower, so he wasn’t surprised she was cold. “I’ve got a jacket in the barn. We can

stop and grab it.” He quickened their pace toward the building looming ahead in the dim glow of an overhead light.

She kept pace with him, and they stepped into the barn, which smelled of hay and straw. He grabbed his lined denim jacket

hanging on a nail and draped it over her. Her face tilted up toward him, and he couldn’t resist the temptation to brush his

lips across hers. Her arms came up around his neck, and he pulled her into a tighter embrace, deepening the kiss. Her lips

were soft and welcoming, and he relished her response.

He pulled back and thumbed her lower lip. “How did I ever live without you?”

Her mouth curved up under his thumb. “I thought we weren’t going to talk about us yet.”

“I never said that.”

“It was in your eyes.”

“Oh, so now you’re a mind reader?” He tugged the jacket back onto her shoulders. “I guess it doesn’t take much of a mind reader

to know how I feel about you.”

She stilled, and her expression tensed as if she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear it. And maybe she was right and this wasn’t

the time.

His phone sounded in his pocket. “Saved by the bell?” he whispered. He glanced at the screen and swiped open the call from

Hez. “Hey, bro, you find something?” He kept possession of Paradise’s hand and walked with her out under the stars.

“Yeah, it came up under a stolen plate. Some guy in Birmingham reported it stolen a month ago. I also searched for Nicole

Grant online, but none of them in the area matched her age and description. No hits.”

“So it appears she was part of the bigger picture of the attacks on The Sanctuary.”

“I’d say so.”

“Well, thanks for checking, Hez. I appreciate it. Put it on your bill.”

“Oh, I did, and it will require a full day of fishing at the pond out there.”

“You got it.” Smiling, Blake ended the call and told Paradise about the dead end.

“What about a reverse image search?” Paradise asked.

He steered her toward the vet facility since she wanted to check on Rosy, who was back in the infirmary with another sprain. “What do you mean?”

“I snagged a picture of her on my phone as I got there to pick you up. I could upload it and have the search engine try to

find Nicole’s picture. If she’s got her photo out there somewhere, we might find out who she really is.”

“That’s brilliant! Let’s give it a try.”

“Let me check Rosy first.” They reached the building, and she pulled out her key and unlocked the door.

A breeze touched his face, and he frowned. “You feel that? Did someone leave a window open?”

“I checked the windows and doors before I left tonight, and everything was locked up. Let me see if Rosy is okay.” She rushed

to the room down the hall where sick animals were housed in crates.

Blake followed her. If someone was in here, he didn’t want her surprised by an intruder. Rosy was the only animal in the kennel

room, and Paradise already had her crate open. The little fox lay curled in a far corner. “Is she okay?”

Paradise did a quick exam. “Seems to be.” She latched the door back in place. “Let’s check out the other rooms. The window

in here is locked.”

“Let’s check the office.” Blake hurried down the hall to the office door that stood open. “Was this locked when you left?”

“I locked it myself.” She reached past him and flipped on the light.

The breeze intensified, and he spotted a side window open. The screen that should have been in it lay damaged on the floor.

“Someone knocked it in.” He turned in a half circle around the room and spotted the safe standing open. “We’ve been robbed.

What was in here?”

“Just a little money for miscellaneous supplies we buy in town. Some research Lacey was working on. Some of the more dangerous anesthetics we use. That’s all I can think of.”

“See what’s missing, and I’ll check with Lacey too.”

Paradise nodded and went to kneel by the safe. She pulled everything out and began to go through it. “None of the drugs are

missing, which seems strange. I would have guessed the burglar was searching for drugs. I’ll check the drug cabinet.”

He followed her to the locked metal cabinet where she consulted a page that listed the contents. “It’s still locked.” She

unlocked the cabinet and ticked off quantities of drugs. “Nothing missing here either.”

“So what was the intruder searching for, and did they find it?” He launched the camera app on his phone and called up the

playback for the lens outside the vet building. Frame after frame was black. “Someone erased the video feed or managed to

turn the camera off.” He showed her the screen. “There’s nothing on it.”

“There was the break-in at the house too. The guy is searching for something, but what?”

He put the screen back in place, then closed and locked the window. “I think I’ll put up a couple of secret cameras. I need

to get to the bottom of this. But first, let’s try that reverse search.”

***

Paradise opened her laptop. Blake sat close beside her with his arm on the top of the sofa behind her. It would be difficult to concentrate on the reverse search when she wanted to lean against him and talk about the future he’d been ready to discuss before Hez called. Maybe it had been a blessing in disguise though. They should stay focused on the problem at hand.

She found a reverse photo search and uploaded the picture from her phone. They watched the progress circle and several photos

appeared. “There she is. We have to pay to unlock the app and view the details, but wow, that was fast.”

He whipped out a credit card and handed it to her to type in the number. Minutes later they had her real name: Nicole Iverson.

He leaned closer. “She’s thirty and is a private investigator.”

“What on earth? Who would have hired her—and why?”

“Whoever is trying to drive us off. And I have a strong feeling it’s all about the oil or gas deposits under the land. I need

to find out what’s there and what it’s worth. It could be the key to everything.”

A murder, an arson, shots fired at them, break-ins, possible deposits underground—how did it all tie together? They’d missed

something, but she struggled to think what it was. Something tickled the back of Paradise’s mind. “What about Hank’s death?

We have left it out of everything we’ve examined. Who had reason to want Hank dead? Someone who thought your mom would be

an easy mark to get her to sell? Or could it be some personal reason?”

“I don’t know of any enemies Hank had.”

Paradise shifted and tried to keep her excitement in check. “So let’s find out. Let’s start at the beginning, before things

went wrong. Let’s examine the history of how he and your mom bought this place. How long were they married?”

“They were married a year before Levi was born. And Hank died six months ago, so seven and a half years before his death.”

She launched a page in the word-processing program and notated Blake’s answers. “He was always interested in exotic animals, and working for him a few days a week is what got me interested in veterinary work. When I left here, I knew I wanted to be a vet. What happened to his first wife? I can’t remember her name.”

“Susannah. She had a brain aneurysm and died during childbirth. The baby died too. I think you’d been gone about two years

when that happened.”

Paradise put her hand to her mouth. “That’s terrible.”

His blue eyes went somber. “She ran the office, and he hired Mom after Susannah died. She’d worked for him for about three

years when he asked her to go to dinner.” A smile slipped out. “I was home on leave, and she was like a schoolgirl trying

to figure out what to wear. She wasn’t sure she should accept—she was ten years older. But by then she knew she cared about

him. Before that, he’d hinted around that he’d like to date her, but she managed to fend him off. He finally caught her with

her defenses down.”

Paradise’s heart ached for the pain in his face. She took his hand and laced her fingers with his. “You loved seeing your

mom settled and content.”

He nodded. “I’d never seen her so happy. They dated two years just to make sure, but I knew the first time I saw them together

that it was meant to be. She married him and moved into his big farmhouse that abutted this place. The next thing I knew,

she was pregnant with Levi, and they were both so thrilled. Hank was a great dad. He loved those boys with everything in him.”

Blake’s voice thickened.

“And when he died you flew home to help your mom and the boys.” She leaned her face against his, and his breath mingled with

hers.

Talking about this kind of loss scared her. What if she opened her heart fully and lost Blake again? She didn’t know if she could take it. She released his hand and ran her hands across the rough stubble on his face.

His fingers grazed her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “Don’t be so scared. We can’t borrow trouble, like my grandma always

used to say. One day at a time is the only way to live life. Mom doesn’t regret a moment of that life with Hank even though

it ended with such heartache. She wouldn’t have the boys or the memories.”

His head came down, and she welcomed his kiss. The tenderness in his lips reverberated all the way to her toes. He was right.

What did anyone achieve by being afraid to live? Loneliness was hard no matter how it happened.

“I’m glad you’re here. We all want you with us. Me most of all, but Mom and the boys need you too.”

“I feel the same way.” She leaned her forehead against his. “So let’s dig into Hank’s life before he died. Maybe there’s something.”

She drew back. “I talked to your mom before dinner too. She has no interest in replacing Hank anytime soon. She sees him everywhere

here, and she doesn’t want to sell this place. Maybe not ever. She finds purpose here. Your mom has a giving soul, not just

to her family but to the animals in need too. She would never want this park closed and housing put in its place. She asked

if you put me up to it so you could go back to the Marines.”

He gave a snort of laughter. “Oh man, that would be a trip. I’m not leaving my girl now that she’s back in my life.”

With his arms wrapped around her, she wasn’t going anywhere either.